Veterans day is one of my favorite holidays. It is a day to honor those who have served our nation, and those who have died in that service. While the celebrations have a sad undertone, there is a sense of fellowship. We all have had contact with the military. Most have a grandfather, mother, brother, friend, cousin, or someone they know who has served recently, or in the past.
This Veterans day was a sad one for several of our military families. Two children will remember it as the day their dad died. It was also a very bad day for a newlywed who found out that her husband had died the day before. However, one family had the joy of welcoming back a beloved military man who had been gone from home far too long. May each and every one of them find that the good memories make the Veterans Days of the future good ones for them.
Tonight we remember:
- Army Sergeant Edward H. Bolen who was from New York
- Army Specialist David C. Lutes who was from Maryland
- Army Specialist Shannon Chihuahua who was from Georgia
- US Army Air Forces Captain George W. Grismore who was from Utah
Sergeant Edward H. Bolen
Edward H. Bolen was named after his great uncle, US Army Second Lieutenant Edward Bolen, who was killed in World War II. As a teenager, Ed Bolen was an All-Star football player and musician in Chittenango, New York, which is a small town about 15 miles east of Syracuse. He graduated from Chittenango High School in 2003.
Bolen went to St. John Fisher College from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2005. He met his wife, Andrea, while they were students at the State University College (SUNY) at Cortland, where she was studying speech pathology and he was majoring in business.
When Bolen joined the military four years ago, the couple was separated during his basic training and his 15-month deployment to Iraq, which ended in January 2009. Their relationship stayed long-distance as Andrea worked on her graduate degree in Maryland while Bolen was stationed in Louisiana.
The couple married September 4th in New Rochelle, and honeymooned in St. Lucia before returning to Fort Polk in Louisiana, where Bolen was preparing for deployment. He left the last week of October and Andrea moved back to live with her parents until he returned. According to the Post-Journal News site:
Army Sgt. Ed Bolen spoke to his new bride by phone nearly every day during the first two weeks of his second deployment.
On Wednesday, Andrea Perez was headed to the post office to mail her fourth care package to her husband in Afghanistan when her mother called to tell her to return home.
"I just knew," she said, when she saw military personnel in the driveway. "I had this feeling, and I knew."
Before any of her packages filled with pictures, cookies and other items could reach him, Bolen was killed by a roadside bomb. His body arrived at Dover Air Force Base Friday morning; services will be held next week in his hometown of Chittenango
The military lists Sergeant Bolen’s assignment as being with the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York.
Sergeant Edward H. Bolen was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on November 10th, the day before Veterans Day. He was 25 years old.
The news of Bolen's death shocked the quiet Madison County community of Chittenango. The flag at the village hall has been lowered to half-staff and a message board offers condolences to his family.
Bolen was honored on Veterans Day when his body arrived at Dover Air Force Base. Bolen’s parents now live in California, but they are planning a funeral and service in Ed’s hometown of Chittenango, New York. Governor David Paterson has ordered that all flags on state government buildings be flown at half-staff on Friday in honor of Sergeant Edward Bolen. Sergeant Edward H. Bolen's burial will be held the next day at Oakwood Cemetery in Chittenango. The Patriot Guard Riders will be attending.
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Specialist Shannon Chihuahua
Shannon Chihuahua was the fourth of five children who grew up in Thomasville, Georgia. He graduated from Thomas County Central High School in 2004 and then attended Valdosta State University from 2004-2005. He met his wife, Kristen in 2006 and they married later that same year.
According to a Tallahassee News site:
"I just miss how positive he was and how much that he would tell me he loved me 100 times or more each day," Kristen Chihuahua said. "I’m just glad to have been the woman to have been there to support him."
The couple met in July 2006 and celebrated their fourth anniversary Nov. 4.
He had two daughters, Sophia, 2, and Annabelle, 4 months, and was an incredible father said Kristen.
He was deployed May 2010 and she last saw him June 22, two weeks after his second daughter was born.
"He was full of energy and always wanted to make people smile," she said
Shannon Chihuahua joined the Army in July 2008 and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which is based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. He and arrived at Fort Campbell in July 2009 and served as a combat medic when he was deployed to Afghanistan last May.
On November 12th, his unit received small-arms fire and RPG fire while conducting operations in the Wataphur District, Konar province, Afghanistan. Chihuahua was going to the aid of another soldier under fire when he was hit and died of massive trauma. He was 25 years old.
Chihuahua is survived by his wife, Kristen and two young daughters, Sophia and Annabelle; mother, Dennice Dinkins, all of Thomasville, Georgia; and father, Sebastian Chihuahua of Del Rio, Texas.
Funeral services have not been announced, but the Patriot Guard Riders will be helping to honor Army Specialist Shannon Chihuahua on his final journey home.
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Specialist David C. Lutes
David Lutes was from Frostburg, Maryland. He was a 2001 graduate of Westmar High School in Maryland.
David had enlisted in the US Army in January 2008 and was beginning his third year of military service. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
On November 8th, Lutes was with his unit in the Khogyani District of the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Enemy forces attacked. Lutes was badly wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) damaged his vehicle. Medics stabilized him and he was flown to Germany for treatment. David Christopher Lutes died from his wounds on November 11th, Veterans Day, in Landstuhl, Germany. He was 28 years old.
The Specialist’s mom, Delia Ahern, and his wife were able to fly to Germany to be with him before he died. His mother is quoted by the Cumberland Times-News:
He was a brother, a son, a dad and a nephew," Ahern said. "He was a hero."
That same sentiment has been expressed by a number of Lutes’ former Westmar classmates on Facebook, where many have been sharing memories of time spent together and his sharp wit.
Childhood friend Becky Miller-Mosher said that, as far as friends went, he was a "great friend to have.
"No matter what the situation was, he always made it funny. His sense of humor made everyone be in a great mood."
She said that he did his best to make sure his friends were taken care of, and that was a "special bond" that those who knew him all had"
His survivors include his wife, Bobbi, and daughters, Kya, and Kaitlyn, all from Oak Grove, Kentucky.; and his mother, Delia Ahern of Westernport, Maryland.
Funeral arrangements are pending, but are expected to be held at St. Mary's Cemetery in Bolivar, New York, with the Patriot Guard Riders in attendance.
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US Army Air Forces Captain George W. Grismore
US Army Air Forces Captain George W. Grismore was from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was declared missing during World War II.
On March 12, 1945, a C-47A Skytrain departed Tanauan Airfield on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The airfield was built by the US shortly after landing on Leyte in November 1944. The airmen’s mission was to resupply guerilla troops. US Army Air Forces Captain George W. Grismore and five crewmembers were aboard the aircraft.
Once cleared for takeoff, there was no further communication between the aircrew and airfield operators. When the aircraft failed to return, a thorough search of the intended route was initiated. No evidence of the aircraft was found. Grismore and the other five men were presumed killed in action. Captain George W. Grismore was 30 years old when the plane went down.
The crash site remained a mystery until it was discovered in 1989 when a Philippine National Police officer contacted US officials regarding a possible World War II-era aircraft crash near Leyte. Human remains, aircraft parts, and artifacts were turned over to US officials at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).
From 1989 to 2009, JPAC sought permission to send teams to the crash site but unrest in the Burauen region prevented recovery operations. Meanwhile, the Hawaii-based Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command worked to identify the remains that had been found. The DOD says the identification was made by matching DNA from Grismore's nephew.
A memorial service in Salt Lake City for Captain Grismore was held on November 13th. US Army Air Forces Captain George W. Grismore is scheduled to be buried at sea off the coast of Newport Beach, California today.
A great article about the life, death, and rediscovery of Captain Grismore can be found in the Salt Lake City Tribune.
At the end of the World War II, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 72,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.
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Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or Fisher House. Donating to Netroots for the Troops provides care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Also, you could visit:
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out. The KINship Project has also been of help to our veterans and other Kossacks In Need.
Stop-loss pay is available for veterans. The deadline for this program is December 3rd. The compensation is also available to survivors.
About the IGTNT series:
"I Got the News Today" is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, a girl in MI, JeNoCo, Mediaprof, TrueBlueMajority, JanosNation, Proud Mom and Grandma, Ministry of Truth, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Ms Wings, maggiejean, racheltracks, JaxDem, and kestrel9000. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for them.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.